The initial design roughs suggested a more complicated and random positioning of the gems which would be difficult to animate, and stands in contrast with the more patterned composition of the stones on her forehead (which are in turn intended to be a contrast against the more chaotic growths of Benny’s stones).

As a solution we suggest reducing the number of gems and placing them in consistent positions. The pattern chosen here is open to revision, but suggest a good base grouping that carries the design theme of her forehead gems. We can increase the number of gems, but in doing so the chances of position drift also rise, as well as considerations of production time.

The second aspect of the initial design that may be in question was that of her clothing (or lack thereof). Designs A and D suggest various skin-tight options, while C combines a line pattern with nudity, and B suggests nudity but excludes detail. The line patterns in A and C may also serve as effects layers, glowing or pulsing to indicate forces being generated.

Beginning to address design notes, starting with the UAV Bug and the Patient.

Very little change was required in the bug, mostly changing the stinger to a data plug.

We’ve covered the mineral growths on the Patient with more skin, allowing only the tips to emerge. The skin and the blood vessels glow increasingly bright as the power grows. We’ve also simplified the face lines to make them noticeable but not overly complex to wrap to the contours.

Second round of design based on the animatic, script and board postings.

For our Patient Zero we modified his wheelchair to be a bit more hi-tech and incorporated restraints into his clothing as well as the chair. There’s some question still as to how outwardly “artificial” he should appear… small seams in his skin and technical markings in areas such as the face, tongue or eyeballs might emphasize it in greater or lesser ways.

We looked to a combination of crystal structure and bone mutations which result in skin-piercing spurs (real stuff, very scary) as the inspiration for the primitive growths that serve as the focus and visual cue of his powers. They can be more or less jewel-like and faceted depending on whether we make them more crystalline or more bony.

Next up is Our Lady Of The Jar, who’s psychic stone growths appear more as polished gems rather than painful growths. The pattern of the stones is less random and more spaced to resemble a maangtika or a ferroniere (basically forehead jewelry).

Flowing, floaty hair can be very time-consuming to animate well (lots of mixed wave-forms), so while we want so show that she has a full head of hair, we can trick the amount of frames down by containing it in some interesting way. We might also incorporate the prop as part of the larger apparatus that surrounds here, with cables leading out of the sides or lights that indicate activity.

Our design of the “bug” starts with the basic form of a wasp, in this case Vespa Mandarinia. Also known as the Giant Asian Hornet, it measures about 2-3 inches and is powerfully venomous.

It’s also a good basis for the study of wasp anatomy, since it’s so big that the details of taxonomy and anatomy are readily apparent. Our little mecha-wasp has a similar basic structure and outward appearance, but replaces biology with technology and adds in a few tricks (like retractable antennae and a wide-range multi-spectrum visual array with macrotelescopic depth options.

A series of racing-themed images for Joe is Japanese. This depicts pretty much everyone in the main storyline cast, something I haven’t gone into much up to now. The characters are (from upper left to lower right) our titular hero Joe and his femme fatale Miyuki, Mister Mountain and Koga, Victor and BJ, Island Masta and the nefarious Kawakami.